Tiny house enthusiasts across the country (and perhaps around the world) are envisioning tiny house communities. (You can see my Vision for Tiny Cohousing here.) All of us think we’ve invented the idea ourselves. I certainly did when I first described it to another cohousing enthusiast three years ago. But then I found the Low Cost Community Housing Google Group which had some lively conversations but has been silent since 2010 when Marganne posed the question “Where do we go from here?” I think she and her blog Cohousing, Small House Movement were ahead of their time. These days, it’s pretty common to hear tiny house lovers exclaim, “I have this great idea of creating a whole community of tiny houses!” After they get over the initial disappointment that they didn’t invent it, they get excited that there are other people who want to do it, too. The Tiny House Movement has gained considerable momentum in the past two years and I think it’s time for a rekindling of the conversation about tiny house communities.

Some imagine a tiny house community as a reinvention of the mobile home park. Some envision a glorified national park campground. Some describe something more like a collection of gypsy wagons. Still others fantasize about tiny house pods like Portland’s food cart pods. Some describe tiny house villages.

Since I have spent half my life studying cohousing, my favorite model for a tiny house community would be a tiny cohousing – a cohousing community composed of tiny houses around a common house. Check out Lina’s Vision for Tiny Cohousing for a description of what tiny house cohousing could be like. For more information about traditional cohousing, please check out the Cohousing Association description.